History YMMV / LoneWolf

* VillainDecay: Book 15's BigBad, Drakkar Warlord Magnaarn, almost ''literally'' goes through Villain Decay. From a cunning badass warrior general who [[spoiler:buries Lone Wolf alive in a trap]] to [[spoiler:a shriveled and mummy-like puppet of his own ArtifactOfDoom on the brink of undeath.]]

* MagnificentBastard: Darklord Gnaag is the most cunning and politically savvy of the Darklords. Gnaag carefully cultivates a harmless appearance while subtly manipulating the struggle for the coveted title of Archlord in the cutthroat environment of Helgedad. When Darklord Haakon captures hero Lone Wolf, Gnaag secretly arranges for Haakon's rival Slutar to discover where the Kai Knight is being held; and when Slutar breaks Lone Wolf out in order to embarrass Haakon, Gnaag denounces Slutar's actions to Haakon, causing Slutar to be shamed out of the competition for Archlord and give Haakon -- who is the more advantageous to Gnaag -- the win. After Haakon's downfall, Gnaag manipulates two Darklords into warring with each other, only to destroy both of them at their weakest and obtain the surviving Darklords' approval. As Archlord, Gnaag wears down Sommerlund with both open warfare and insidious internal strife, with only Lone Wolf capable of keeping him in check. Gnaag finally lures Lone Wolf into a carefully crafted trap by using the Lorestones as bait, and tosses the Kai Master into a Shadow Gate, from where Lone Wolf only emerges eight years later -- by which time, Gnaag has almost conquered the entirety of Sommerlund and has to be removed with a desperate decapitation strike in Helgedad itself.

* MagnificentBastard: Darklord Gnaag is the most cunning and politically savvy of the Darklords. Gnaag carefully cultivates a harmless appearance while subtly manipulating the struggle for the coveted title of Archlord in the cutthroat environment of Helgedad. When Darklord Haakon captures hero Lone Wolf, Gnaag secretly arranges for Haakon's rival Slutar to discover where the Kai Knight is being held; and when Slutar breaks Lone Wolf out in order to embarass Haakon, Gnaag denounces Slutar's actions to Haakon, causing Slutar to be shamed out of the competition for Archlord and give Haakon -- who is the more advantageous to Gnaag -- the win. After Haakon's downfall, Gnaag maipulates two Darklords into warring with each other, only to destroy both of them at their weakest and obtain the surviving Darklords' approval. As Archlord, Gnaag wears down Sommerlund with both open warfare and insidious internal strife, with only Lone Wolf capable of keeping him in check. Gnaag finally lures Lone Wolf into a carefully crafted trap by using the Lorestones as bait, and tosses the Kai Master into a Shadow Gate, from where Lone Wolf only emerges eight years later -- by which time, Gnaag has almost conquered the entirety of Sommerlund and has to be removed with a desperate decapitation strike in Helgedad itself.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The books written after Joe Dever's death attempt a few of these, like a lengthy explanation in one on how it is that both Grey Star and the New Order Grand Master delivered the sacred Moonstone back into the safe custody of the Shianti.

* MagnificentBastard: Darklord Gnaag is the most cunning and politically savvy of the Darklords. Gnaag carefully cultivates a harmless appearance while subtly manipulating the struggle for the coveted title of Archlord in the cutthroat environment of Helgedad. When Darklord Haakon captures hero Lone Wolf, Gnaag secretly arranges for Haakon's rival Slutar to discover where the Kai Knight is being held; and when Slutar breaks Lone Wolf out in order to embarass Haakon, Gnaag denounces Slutar's actions to Haakon, causing Slutar to be shamed out of the competition for Archlord and give Haakon--who is the more advantageous to Gnaag--the win. After Haakon's downfall, Gnaag maipulates two Darklords into warring with each other, only to destroy both of them at their weakest and obtain the surviving Darklords' approval. As Archlord, Gnaag wears down Sommerlund with both open warfare and insidious internal strife, with only Lone Wolf capable of keeping him in check. Gnaag finally lures Lone Wolf into a carefully crafted trap by using the Lorestones as bait, and tosses the Kai Master into a Shadow Gate, from where Lone Wolf only emerges eight years later - by which time, Gnaag has almost conquered the entirety of Sommerlund and has to be removed with a desperate decapitation strike in Helgedad itself.

** The Kleasa from the ''World of Lone Wolf'' series. It is by far the most powerful enemy Grey Star ever actually fights in the series and boasts High Combat Skill, Endurance, and the ability to drain Grey Star's Endurance and Willpower even if Grey Star magically shielded himself right before the fight. It's also one of the few enemies Grey Star can't avoid fighting no matter what. And it appears in the ''first book''. Because of this, if you roll low on your starting scores ''it is extremely difficult to finish the book'' wihout rules abuse -- that you can use the magic seed to do X9001 damage. Humorously, using the seed causes an instance of ScriptBreaking. Project Aon suggests "fixing" this bug, leaving you a bit screwed.

* VillainDecay: Book 15's BigBad, Drakkar Warlord Magnaarn, almost ''literally'' goes through VillainDecay. From a cunning badass warrior general who [[spoiler:buries Lone Wolf alive in a trap]] to [[spoiler:a shriveled and mummy-like puppet of his own ArtifactOfDoom on the brink of undeath.]]

** The series is almost universally popular among Italian tabletop gamers, where the Kai Knights have been redubbed "Ramas Knights" and a few names have been changed around to emphasize the "medieval fantasy" feel of the setting.

* EnsembleDarkhorse

* TheWoobie: Tavig, a character Lone Wolf may encounter in Book 7. He's just some poor guy who took on the mission of invading Castle Death to pay for his sister's ransom. After being thrown into TheMaze twice, all he wants is to escape. Why is he a woobie? Let's just say that if the hero meets him, he'll only get a quick death if [[spoiler:''Lone Wolf kills him''. Otherwise he'll either be torn apart by dog men or slowly crushed to death by a giant fist]]. Yeah, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Castle Death's a fun place]].\\\
It gets worse. The UpdatedRerelease has a [[ADayInTheLimelight bonus adventure]] where you take control of Tavig early in his jaunt into Kazan-Oud. He kills some nasty bad guys, thwarts a plot by Zahda to escape the island, and saves a damsel in distress, and as they reach their escape, he sets her loose and ''goes back into the castle'' to his inevitable fate. Poor guy.

* HoYayShipping: Lone Wolf and Banedon. It was so blatant that, in the novelizations, two female characters, Qinefer and Alyss, were introduced in no small part to be potential love interests for the two of them

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/ChooseYourOwnAdventure here]].

* CompleteMonster: While the evil god [[GreaterScopeVillain Naar]] and his direct creations, such as the [[BigBadEnsemble Darklords of Helgedad]], are [[MadeOfEvil incarnations of evil itself]], the same cannot be said for Naar's [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters mortal servants]].
** [[EvilSorcerer Vonotar the Traitor]] was once a member of the magician's guild of Sommerlund, but [[AmbitionIsEvil sought to learn evil magic in conjunction with good magic to become more powerful]]. Vonotar sold out his nation and his people when he revealed to the Darklords that all the Kai Order would be gathered at their monastery for the holy Feast of Fehmarn, which allowed the Darklords to massacre the Kai and pave the way for their invasion. Vonotar was given command of an undead fleet of warships and prevented aid from coming to Sommerlund by sea and sent numerous assassins out to kill Lone Wolf to prevent him from retrieving the Sommerswerd. When Lone Wolf succeeded and helped beat back the invasion, Vonotar captured and tortured a former guild mate to flee to the icy wastes of Kalte to escape the wrath of both Sommerlund and the Darklords. He took refuge with the Ice Barbarians but murdered their leader and enslaved them with magical jewelry, often forcing them to commit suicide if they resisted. Ultimately captured by Lone Wolf, Vonotar was flung through a magical gateway into another dimension where he gathered the worst criminals in Sommerlund's history and attempted to cross back over to Magnamund to wreak his vengeance. While he was ultimately slain by the coincidental arrival of Lone Wolf, Vonotar the Traitor served as an effective StarterVillain and showed just how far men can fall to evil in their pursuit of power.
** [[EvilOverlord Zakhan Kimah]] is the cruel, tyrannical usurper king of Vassagonia. Kimah began his career by leading the Sharnazim, Vassagonia's SecretPolice, and would root out and torture any potential dissidents to the Zahkan's rule. Ever power-hungry, Kimah [[LesCollaborateurs made a pact with the Darklords]] and murdered the previous Zakhan, Moudalla, to seize control of the country. In exchange for the [[ArtifactOfDoom Orb of Death]], Kimah lured Lone Wolf to Vassagonia in the guise of peace talks with the intent of handing him over to the Darklords. When Lone Wolf escaped capture, Kimah had the innocent boat crew that carried Lone Wolf denounced as traitors, publicly executed, and [[DecapitationPresentation their heads stuck on pikes]] as examples. While Lone Wolf would ultimately end up escaping his grasp and slaying one of the Darklords, Kimah stayed in their good graces by becoming the only human nation to ally with the forces of evil. He would go on to lead a great army for the Darklords and slaughter or enslave every village or town he came across as he made his way to the neighboring capitol city of Tahou. Leading the assault on the city wielding the Orb of Death, Kimah made it clear in his taunts to Lone Wolf that he intended to raze the city and murder every innocent inside the walls of Tahou.
** [[EvilutionaryBiologist Archdruid Cadak]] is the [[SorcerousOverlord lord]] of the Naar-aligned nation of Ruel and master of the [[{{Cult}} Cener Druids]]. Commanding his ancient cult to master the arts of poisons and plagues, Cadak sought to make the world of Magnamund appropriate to Naar's tastes by creating a [[SyntheticPlague deadly plague]] that would wipe out all life on the planet with the exceptions of those Cadak saw as worthy. Under Cadak's guidance, the Cener Druids bred terrible abominations to use as CannonFodder, used biological weapons on neighboring countries, and captured enemy soldiers and civilians to use as [[ForScience test subjects for their poisons and plagues]]. When Lone Wolf destroyed the deadly plague, Cadak swore undying vengeance on him and all he held dear. He would go on to capture Lone Wolf's closest friend, the mage Banedon, and torture him while trying to lure Lone Wolf into a trap that would kill both of them. Failing that, Cadak made one final attempt to enact Naar's unholy designs by using the powerful Deathstaff to summon the demoness Shamath and resurrect Vashna, the most powerful of the Darklords. Cadak intended to use Vashna and his undead legions to overrun Magnamund and annihilate the rest of the world. Cadak's plans were again foiled by Lone Wolf and the wicked archdruid was slain, but Lone Wolf had not seen the last of Cadak as he makes one final appearance in Naar's evil realm as Lone Wolf trekked through it. Cadak pleaded with Lone Wolf to free him from his well-deserved torment, but he only intended to trick Lone Wolf into taking his place in eternal damnation.

* HoYayShipping: Lone Wolf and Banedon.

* CounterpartComparison: The Kai Lords, a monastic order of psionic knights trained since the age of seven, and [[OrderReborn reborn]] from a single member after nearly complete destruction, look a ''lot'' like [[Franchise/StarWars the Jedi]].

** [[EvilOverlord Zakhan Kimah]] is the cruel, tyrannical usurper king of Vassagonia. Kimah began his career by leading the Sharnazim, Vassagonia's SecretPolice, and would root out and torture any potential dissidents to the Zahkan's rule. Ever power hungry, Kimah [[LesCollaborateurs made a pact with the Darklords]] and murdered the previous Zakhan, Moudalla, to seize control of the country. In exchange for the [[ArtifactOfDoom Orb of Death]], Kimah lured Lone Wolf to Vassagonia in the guise of peace talks with the intent of handing him over to the Darklords. When Lone Wolf escaped capture, Kimah had the innocent boat crew that carried Lone Wolf denounced as traitors, publicly executed, and [[DecapitationPresentation their heads stuck on pikes]] as examples. While Lone Wolf would ultimately end up escaping his grasp and slaying one of the Darklords, Kimah stayed in their good graces by becoming the only human nation to ally with the forces of evil. He would go on to lead a great army for the Darklords and slaughter or enslave every village or town he came across as he made his way to the neighboring capitol city of Tahou. Leading the assault on the city wielding the Orb of Death, Kimah made it clear in his taunts to Lone Wolf that he intended to raze the city and murder every innocent inside the walls of Tahou.

* CounterpartComparison: The Kai Lords, a monastic order of psionic knights trained since the age of seven, and [[OrderReborn reborn]] from a single member after nearly-complete destruction, look a ''lot'' like [[Franchise/StarWars the Jedi]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series is almost universally popular among Italian tabletop gamers, where the Kai Knights have been redubbed "Ramas Knights" and a few names have been changed around to emphasize the "medieval fantasy" feel of the setting.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** In Book 11, a bunch of ghostly beings first scare Lone Wolf with visions of every enemy he's ever faced, then they show him visions of his family and every friend he's ever made. All of these people helped shape his destiny. Afterwards, Kai himself arrives to give him encouragement and then teleport him to his destination.
** In Book 18, Lone Wolf notices a crowd gathered around a faith healer. The angry mob is ready to attack him for having no progress in fixing a woman's headache. When Lone Wolf realizes that the man has no powers, but genuinely wants to help people, he discreetly uses his own powers to cure the woman, turning the old man into a hero for his village. FunnyMoment: As part of the act, Lone Wolf ''[[ThanksForTheMammary plants the old man's hands on the woman's chest]]''.
** Another one from Book 18. After [[spoiler:defeating the Ghost of Roark haunting the ruined and deserted town of Amory]], Lone Wolf wakes up in the morning to sunshine and birdsong, and his spirits are lifted when he realizes that life is already returning to the place.